# Suspended Process Instance

**URL:** <https://forum.flowable.org/t/suspended-process-instance/6679>\
**Category:** Flowable Engine\
**Created:** [September 8, 2020, 4:41am UTC](https://forum.flowable.org/t/suspended-process-instance/6679 "2020-09-08T04:41:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![akki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@akki](https://forum.flowable.org/u/akki)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 4:41am UTC](https://forum.flowable.org/t/suspended-process-instance/6679/1 "2020-09-08T04:41:52Z")

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Hi,  
I am having an issue in recognizing if the given `processInstanceId` in the input is suspended one or an active one.  
But I get all the required details if I use `deleteProcessInstance` method.  
So, my question is, which method is better `suspendProcessInstance` or `deleteProcessInstance` if I want to cancel an instance and not resume it in future?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![joram](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/forum.flowable.org/joram/32/26_2.png) [@joram](https://forum.flowable.org/u/joram)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2020, 8:11pm UTC](https://forum.flowable.org/t/suspended-process-instance/6679/2 "2020-09-13T20:11:10Z")

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Suspending is for temporarily halting an instance. Deleting it removes the runtime data, so if you won’t use it in the future, calling delete is for sure better (e.g. for general performance).